How to take a good screenshot of your skin and cape
A cape only really reads when it is moving, which is why most screenshots of one look flat. A few keys and one habit fix that.
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Hide the HUD
F1 clears the hotbar, hearts and crosshair. Everything else here matters less than this one.
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Get behind yourself
F5 once puts the camera behind your character - the view that actually shows a cape. A second press faces you, which is the wrong one for this.
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Find flat light
Midday with the sun behind the camera. Dusk and torchlight throw an orange cast that shifts every colour in the cape.
In creative, /time set noon and /weather clear take two seconds and save the shot.
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Catch it moving
A standing cape hangs flat. Sprint and stop, or drop off a one-block ledge, and take the shot on the way down - the cape lifts and you can read the whole panel.
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Press F2
The screenshot lands in .minecraft/screenshots at your window's resolution, so fullscreen before you shoot if you want a large one.
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Or skip the game entirely
For a clean picture on a plain background - a profile picture, a forum avatar - the avatar maker renders your skin without the world in it.
Faster than staging a shot, and it does not need the cape to be uploaded anywhere.